Sustainable cities made possible by smart design

In 2008 for the first time in history as many people lived in cities as in the countryside worldwide, according to a UN report. By 2050, an estimated 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, and the majority of this growth will be in the developing world. Meeting the needs of billions of additional city dwellers will cost trillions of dollars and place increasing stress on land, water and other natural resources.

The technology is here today to help architects, urban planners and other decision makers make better-informed decisions and achieve greener outcomes more quickly, easily, and cost-effectively. Curitiba, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, has one of the most heavily used, yet low-cost, transit systems in the world.

Around 70% of its commuters use bus rapid transit (BRT) to travel to work, resulting in congestion-free streets and pollution-free air for the 2.2 million inhabitants of this rapidly developing state. Similar transit-oriented, urban communities can be designed quickly and affordably using products such as AutoCAD® Map 3D, within the Autodesk® Infrastructure Design Suite Premium edition, and Autodesk® Infrastructure Modeler. These programs allow designers to quickly take LIDAR and map information of existing conditions and use it to design better and greener developments for growing cities. Analysis products such as Autodesk® Storm and Sanitary Analysis and Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage can quickly and accurately confirm performance assumptions and make sure your design is constructible.

Major retrofit and reconstruction of existing cities as well as construction of entirely new urban communities will require several different design and analysis technologies working together seamlessly just like a Project Team with architects, civil engineers, urban planners and construction professionals all working on a consistent vision from the start of a project to its finish. Embrace the change and become a master of the new urban world. BD+C